Developmental outcome in very low birthweight infants. Current status and future trends.

Surfactant therapy has significantly reduced mortality, but not morbidity, in the very low birthweight (VLBW) infant. Questions persist as to the edge of viability, the allocation of health care resources for the VLBW infant, and whether or not we are improving survival at the cost of contributing more handicapped individuals to society. Since surfactant alone has not reduced morbidity, other medical and behavioral treatments are being studied that may help to optimize neurodevelopmental outcome in the VLBW infant.